Happy Suprises
by SerendipitousP
Summary: When Hawk Moth's identity is revealed, Chat Noir must choose between the acceptance of his father, or the life of his Lady. {One-Shot; Reveal Fic}


Adrien lied alone in his room, as he did every night. His nightly routine went much as it always had: brush teeth, put on pajamas, send a silent prayer to no one in particular, and think. Tonight's thoughts traveled the same path they traveled last night.

And the night before.  
And the night before.  
And the night before.  
And the night before.

He thought of his friends. He thought of his father. He thought of his Ladybug.

Adrien had just gotten to thinking about his father, Gabriel Agreste, and how he could possibly capture his approval. He had taken up all advanced classes this year. When Adrien had told his father, he had replied, "Hmm, very well." Which was better than his usual response, "Hmm." Things had actually seemed to be getting better. He had even given Adrien a scarf for his birthday, as opposed to the usual hundred dollar ball point pen. Adrien wore that scarf for a month strait before the tired strings had regrettably lost their luster. He had looked at every shop in Paris for a new one, but none were identical. Bummer. He really liked that scarf.

His thoughts were just drifting to Ladybug when the _slide click swoosh_ of his bedroom door being forcefully opened shook him from his trance. Adrien was about to be upset that he would have to start the entire thought sequence over again, but he too soon realized who had opened his door. Gabriel Agreste. His father.

"Father?" Adrien asked, his heart pounding with nervous excitement. His father had come personally to see him. Natalie wasn't even around! Gabriel's breathing was deep and brooding. "Is something the matter?"

"It's you, isn't it?" He asked, but it was more of a statement. A command. He stumbled over to his son's bed, but didn't sit. Even three feet away, Adrien could smell the sharp tang of alcohol on his fathers tongue. "The stupid puns, the idiotic small talk, even the _movements_. It's always been you."

"What do you mean? Are you _drunk_?" Gabriel Agreste never drank. He never had the need to. Any ache that needed curing could and would be affixed using money. The Devil's drink was never brought up in this house. It never needed to be.

" _Don't talk back to me!_ " His father barked. He seized Adrien's wrist before he could scurry to the other end of the bed. His thumb ground into the charge's knuckles until he found what he was looking for. Adrien's ring, his Miraculous.

"Father." Panic shot through Adrien. His father knew. His father was angry. Why was his father angry?

"All of those god forsaken years and it was _you all along_? Do you know how long I searched? Just to find out that _this_ ," he pressed hard on the surface of the stone. "was _right under my nose?!"_

 _"_ What are you talking about? The only person who's looking for me is-" Adrien's eyes filled with realization. The man who had been after his and his Lady's Miraculouses. And all this time... it had been his father? No, that couldn't be right. Gabriel was just drunk and today must have been a bad day at work... a very bad day at work. He shook his wrist from his fathers grasp and retreated to the corner of the room. Gabriel Agreste huffed and stood back.

"I'm taking back what's rightfully mine." Adrien watched in horror as his so familiar father turned into something horrid. His normally black suit turned a sickly purple, a mask melted down his forehead and stuck like lacquer to his cheeks. Grey eyes glowed under a grey mask under a grey roof under a grey sky. Hawk Moth. Papillon. His worst nightmare.

A cane materialized into Hawk Moth's hand. He spun it between his fingers as it expanded to a baton. The similarities in their weapons were almost laughable. Like father like son. He came at Adrien with menacing force. Practiced, menacing force. Adrien barley had time to transform before their staff's collided. Two sets of skilled feet rattled the floor as Chat fought to protect himself. He wouldn't hurt his father. He couldn't. Hawk Moth planted his cane in the ground next to his sons feet and side swept him. Chat Noir fell to the ground under Hawk Moth's meticulous glare. A large boot planted itself on his chest.

"If only I had a girl. Ladybug is the real victory catch. But without Chat Noir, Ladybug is as good as dead." And that was the straw that broke the cat's back. Chat rolled backward, kicking Hawk Moth in the small of his back. He folded forward and Chat escaped through his crumpling legs. Without another look back, he swept out his bedroom window and through the city.

He finally stopped once he was several miles away from his home. He dialed Ladybug on his staff. Her voice answered, but not her face. She must have been out of transformation.

"Chat Noir? What's the matter?"

"My Lady, I need you to meet me quickly. It's an emergency." A few moments of silence passed.

"I'm on my way."

Only minutes later, though it felt like agonizing years, Ladybug appeared, looking more beautiful that the day he had met her. Chat Noir ran to her and took her up in a tight embrace.

"Chat, what is it? Is there an Akuma?" Ladybug said, pulling away from him and observed her surroundings.

"In a way," Chat said, pacing the rooftop they were standing on. He ran his hands through his thick hair and tugged harshly on the ends. He felt as if he were floating, weightless in a void. Chat looked at his Lady, who was observing the night sky. Purple stars flickered through a cloud of black. Wait a minute... Chat twirled his staff into the air, dissipating the fog. Thousands of tiny wings fluttered in all directions.

"Are those?"

"Ladybug," he said, taking her shoulders in his hands firmly. His thumbs caressed her collarbones. "I need you to do something for me." He focused on her concerned face instead of the Akumas flying all around them. "The man we are about to face is no ordinary Akuma. In fact, he isn't an Akuma at all. It's... it's Hawk Moth."

Ladybug's face drained on color.

"Now listen. There's only one way to defeat him. You have to get him to use his power. You know what it is. You'll need to fight like you've never fought before. Force it out of him." The dark cloud around them thickened. Chat's lungs felt as if they were collapsing. He could tell that Ladybug felt it too.

"Chat," she gasped. "What's going on?"

"It's okay, my Lady." He wrapped his arms around her as their feet lifted off the ground. "I'll be right here."  
...

Chat opened his eyes moments later, but it didn't do much good. The room was pitch black. He felt his Lady quivering in his arms.

"Y-you know," she stuttered. "I may not seem it, but I've always been terrified of those things." Chat helped her to her feet. The room flooded with slippery moonlight as a hexagonal window peeled opened. A shadow stretched across the floor. A tall man with a long cane. Hawk Moth.

"I see my Akuma have transferred you here with ease." Hawk Moth said, leaping easily from the window to the floor. A fog of Akuma lightened his step. "Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way," he held out his gloved hand towards them. "Your Miraculouses, please."

"Not in a million years, Hawk Moth," Ladybug spat, tightening her fists defensively. "We've defeated your minions on several occasions, what makes you think we can't take you?"

"Oh, I have no doubt that you both could. But too bad only one of you is willing to put up a fight." Hawk Moth smirked. Ladybug looked at her partner. Chat Noir was clenching his fingers nervously. He popped each knuckle individually over and over until they wouldn't pop anymore.

"Come on, Chat. We can do this!" Ladybug said, charging forwards. Battle erupted between the two, but Chat Noir could only watch. Ladybug was struggling already, beads of sweat sliding down her hot skin. On more than one occasion she cried for him to help or shot him a look of panic that made his heart wretch. Chat wanted to help. He needed to. But he couldn't. He couldn't move a muscle.

Finally Ladybug was forced to make her final move. Her yo-yo swung into the air and she muttered the words she couldn't take back. Chat saw her in this vulnerable moment and knew what was coming next. Hawk Moth charged her, catching her around the waist. With no weapon or partner to defend herself, the only thing she could do was claw helplessly at the villains forearms. Her Lucky Charm swayed unmastered in the air. A feather. Why a feather?

"Well, Chat Noir," Hawk Moth said, one arm caging Ladybug's torso, the other circling around to grasp her jaw roughly between his fingers. "In moments, Ladybug will be no more. I have her Miraculous. Now, if you'd only hand yours over-"

"Don't do it, Chat! Don't-"

"Quiet." Hawk Moth covered her mouth with his hands. "You know what'll happen if you don't, Chat." A blue butterfly floated softly down from the mass of dark purple. Hawk Moth extended his fingers crushing the thing in his grasp. When he opened his fist, it spread its wings, glowing brighter than the rest. "This is a special Akuma. One that I haven't yet had the... opportunity to use. It could burrow deep into her body and destroy her from the inside out." The insect landed on Ladybug's nose. She tried to hide the fear he knew she felt. "So, what'll it be, Chat Noir? Your Miraculous or her life?" Ladybug's Miraculous stone lost another spot. Hawk Moth chuckled deep in his throat. "I'll give you until the count of ten. One... Two..."

He only had seconds. Seconds to think. Seconds to act. He wished in this moment that he had his Lady's Lucky Sight. His eyes darted around the room, haphazardly locking on the feather floating down towards the situation.

"Three... Four..."

He sincerely hoped that he had inherited more from his father than just his bright blond hair and skill with the staff.

"Five... Six..."

The feather sank slowly. Three feet from Hawk Moth's face.

"Seven... Eight..."

Two feet.

"Nine..."

The feather landed gracefully upon Gabriel Agreste's head. He looked momentarily confused, taking the feather in between his pointer finger and thumb. He pushed the bristles away before they could tickle his nose, but it was too late. Thousands of polka dotted strands went flying when Hawk Moth sneezed harshly. The sneeze was so familiar to Chat. So familiar to his father. Chat swallowed his sadness and charged.

"Cataclysm!" He yelled, activating his own power. With the opposite hand, he pulled Ladybug from his fathers weakening grip. Chat took Hawk Moth's unsuspecting wrist with the other, turning it a sickly shade of purple. The two tumbled backwards and hit the ground with a thump. Hawk Moth's bubbling arm solidified, fusing him with an iron grasp to the floor.

"No! No!" Hawk Moth protested, flailing like a crying child.  
...

"I am standing here on the front lawn of a none other than Gabriel Agreste, world renowned fashion designer. But Agreste isn't just know for his top of the line designs. When he isn't Gabriel Agreste of Agreste Fashion Industries he is Hawk Moth, the villain responsible for victimizing Paris and its citizens..." the camera man droned on but Chat could only sit and stare. His father, the only man he would have never suspected, was Hawk Moth. And Hawk Moth, whose transformation had run out, was in handcuffs being escorted to a police car. He strained against his binding, screaming bloody murder.

"I can't believe we did it," Ladybug said, patting Chat on the back. "We caught him. Hawk Moth is gone." She laughed sadly, as if recovering a humorous memory of someone who had died long ago. "Now what'll we save Paris from?" Chat looked at her, really looked at her. He looked at how high her cheekbones looked under that satin mask. He looked at how deep her hair looked beneath the lamppost lights. He looked at how vast those big blue eyes of hers were, so familiar that he knew that he'd seen them somewhere else before. Somewhere other than under that mask.

"Come with me," Chat said, taking her hand gingerly in his own.

"Chat, my transformation is almost up, I can't-"

"Ladybug," his tone and eyes pleaded. "Please?"

She followed him quickly through the streets of Paris, finally stopping on the roof of a building in which they would be alone.

"Chat, why are we up here?" He let go of her hand and turned to look at her. He smiled and untransformed. Standing before her was a tall, blond boy that she'd seen before. Adrien Agreste.

"A-Adrien? Y-you're Chat Noir?" Ladybug stuttered.

"The one and only," he half-smirked, letting some Chat Noir charm leak through his Adrien Agreste demeanor.

"I just- I can't believe- It's really you?" Ladybug's eyes lit up with realization. "Oh my gosh, Adrien. Your dad. I'm so sorry..."

"Hey," he said softly, "It'll be okay. I... I wasn't that close with him anyways. But, Ladybug?"

"Yeah?" She asked, ignoring the subtle beeping of the second to last spot before her transformation would come undone.

"Show me who you really are. I need a happy surprise after today." Ladybug bit her lip and looked away. "What's the matter? Listen, no more secrets, okay? Only happy surprises."

"Chat- Adrien, I can't. I don't think you'll find that it's a happy surprise. I'm not Ladybug all the time."

"And I'm not Chat Noir all the time. Ladybug," Adrien took her face in between his hands and rubbed her clothed cheekbones. "I would love you in any form you'd take."

And suddenly it wasn't the power due Ladybug and Chat Noir, celebrating the greatest victory yet. It was Adrien Agreste, the orphaned super model with the strength of ten and eyes for only her and Marinette Dupain-Cheng, a teenage girl with a lot of courage and a heart for only him.

And life was full of happy surprises.


End file.
